his people, saying, He that a touch- |land, and received in the same year eth this man or his wife shall surely an hundred-fold: and the LORD be put to death. s blessed him: q 12 Then Isaac sowed in that q Ps. 105. 15. r Matt. 13. 8. Mark 4. 8. 8 ver. 3 ch. 24. 1,35. Job 42. 12. instance, yet, judging from his whole de- now therefore we may not touch them,' portment, he comes to the conclusion i. e. hurt them. Job 1. 11, But put forth rather that his words had been somehow thy hand now, and touch all that he hath,' false, than that his actions had been i. e. injure, blast, or destroy. Ps. 105. 15, wrong. Such is usually the paramount Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and influence of a good life. do my prophets no harm,' i. e. injure 10. Might lightly have lien with. Heb. not, as implied in the latter or exegetiby kimat shakav, within a little cal clause. The conduct of Abimelech had lien with. Chal. 'It lacked but a on this occasion was as worthy of a little of one of the people's lying with good king, as that of Isaac had been unher.' The word 'lightly' in our trans-worthy of a servant of God. lation seems to be equivalent to easily.' 12. Isaac sowed in that land. • A gen some -¶ Shouldest have brought guiltiness tleman who had spent many years in upon us. Heb. asham, gross or Persia gave us the following information shameful crime, a term applied both to while conversing about the pastoral sin and the punishment of sin. It is tribes (Eelauts) which form a large part here rendered by the Gr. ayvotav, igno- of its population ;-There are rance, a kindred term to which is applied that live in their tents all the year; and also by the apostle, from the Septuagint others that build huts for the winter, usage, to the sins or 'errors' (ayvonparwv|which they abandon in the summer, ignorances, or ignorant trespasses) of and often return to them in the winter the people, Heb. 9. 7, for which atone- They then begin to grow corn in the viment was made every year. In Paul's cinity, and leave a few old persons to use of it, it doubtless denotes that class look after it. As the cultivation increasof sins which were committed rather es, a greater number of persons stay at through inadvertence than presumption the huts in the summer also, until at and wilfulness; and such a distinction is last nearly all the tribe remains to atvery appropriate here. The sin which tend to the cultivation, only sending out the king of Gerar intimates might have a few with the flocks. Thus the wanbeen brought upon his people, would dering tribes gradually change from a have been strictly one of inadvertence pastoral to an agricultural people. May or ignorance on his part-an ayvota. not this illustrate the situation of our His words show, however, that it was pastoral patriarch when he began to a deeply fixed persuasion in the minds cultivate? And may not the prospect of heathen nations, that the violation of the marriage covenant was a sin of deep die, and one which merited, and was likely to draw after it, the divine indignation. which it involved of Isaac's permanent settlement in Gerar with his powerful clan, account for the visible uneasiness of the king and people of that district, and for the measures which they took to prevent such settlement? We thus also see the process by which a wandering and pastoral people gradually become settled cultivators.' Pict. Bib. 11. He that toucheth, &c. That is, injureth, or wrongeth, either by word or deed, in person, honor, or possessions. Thus Josh. 9. 19, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel; ¶ Received in the same year, &c. Heb t W 15 For all the wells w which his 13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until father's servants had digged in the he became very great: days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines" envied him. t ch. 24. 35. Ps. 112. 3. Prov. 10. 22. u ch. 37. 11. Eccles. 4. 4. 16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us: for thou art much mightier than we. w ch. 21. 30. x Exod. 1. 9. found, implying that it was more than vanity attaches to every earthly good; he looked for; an increase far exceed-prosperity begets envy, and from envy ing his most sanguine expectations. proceeds injury.'—Fuller. Chal. He found in that year a hundredfold more than he thought of.' This was the evident effect of the special could not well have been devised, as it blessing of God. 15. All the wells, &c. A more effectual mode of expressing envy or enmity was in effect to destroy the flocks and 13. Went forward. Heb. 5 herds which could not subsist without yelek halok, went or walked going; i. e. water. In those countries a good well kept continually increasing. The Heb. of water was a possession of immense term for 'walk' or 'go' is frequently us-value; and hence in predatory wars it ed in the sense of continued increase or was always an object for either party to growing intensity. Thus, Thus, 2 Sam. 3. 1, fill the wells with earth or sand, in order 'Now there was long war between the to distress the enemy. The same house of Saul and the house of David; mode of taking vengeance on enemies but David waxed stronger and stronger;' has been practised in more recent times. Heb. Went on or walked, and be- The Turkish emperors give annually to came strong. Jon. 1. 11, 'For the sea every Arab tribe near the road by wrought, and was tempestuous; Heb. which the Mahommedan pilgrims travel The sea walked and was tempestuous. to Mecca, a certain sum of money, and See Note on Gen. 3. 8. a certain number of vestments, to keep 14. Great store of servants. Heb. them from destroying the wells which avuddah rabbah, much ser- lie on that route, and to escort the pilvice; abstract col. sing. for concrete. grims across their country. D'Herbelot Thus Ezek. 1. 1, 'I was among the cap-records an incident exactly in point, tives ;' Heb. I was among the captivity. which seems to be quite common among It is an idiom of frequent occurrence. the Arabs. Gianabi, a famous rebel in Ainsworth and the marg. give 'husband- the tenth century, gathered a number ry', as does the Gr. yɛwpyta, implying of people together, seized on Bassorah not only the collective body of servants and Caufa; and afterwards insulted the belonging to a thrifty agricultural es- reigning caliph, by presenting himself tablishment, but also the various work | boldly before Bagdad, his capital; after in tillage, &c. which they performed. which he retired by little and little, fillThe same thing is said of Joh 1. 3. ing up all the pits with sand, which ¶ And the Philistines envied him. had been dug on the road to Mecca The original kana, which is usually for the benefit of the pilgrims.'-Paxrendered as here by the Gr. ¿nλow, to ton. Had the Philistines merely forced be zealous, has, when used in a bad sense, their way to these wells, and drank of the import of a jealous, envious, indig- them, it might have been excused; but rant zeal. Here again we see how to stop them, was an act of downright 17 ¶ And Isaac departed thence, | ped them after the death of Abraand pitched his tent in the valley of ham: and he called their names Gerar, and dwelt there. after the names by which his father had called them. 18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father: for the Philistines had stop barbarity, and a gross violation of the treaty of peace which had been made between a former Abimelech and Abraham. Gen. 21. 25-31. But envy considers that which is lost to another as gained to itself, and not only delights in working gratuitous mischief, but will even punish itself in a measure to have the malicious satisfaction of doing a still greater injury to an enemy. 19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. ¶ Called their names, &c. This would appear a trifle among us, be16. Go from us; for thou art much cause water is so abundant that it is mightier than we. It is not, perhaps, to scarcely valued, and nobody thinks of be inferred that this request expresses perpetuating his name in the name of the personal feelings of Abimelech to- a well. But in those deserts, where wards Isaac; but perceiving the temper water is so scarce, and wells and springs of his people, he entreated him quietly are valued more, and as they are there to depart. The reason he gave for it, the general permanent monuments of that he was much mightier than they,' geography, it is also an honor to have was framed perhaps in part to apologise given them names.'—Burder. It is clear, for his people's jealousy, and in part to that wherever Abraham sojourned he soften his spirit by a complimentary improved the country; yet it would style of address. Had Isaac been dis- seem that wherever the Philistines fol posed to act upon Abimelech's admis-lowed him, it was their study to mar his sion, he might, instead of removing at improvements, and they were willing his request, have resolved to stand even to deprive themselves of the benehis ground, alleging the covenant made fits of his labors rather than to suffer with his father, and his own improve them to remain undisturbed. ments of his lands; but being a man of these waters would he doubly sweet to peace, and willing to act upon the Isaac from having been first tasted by maxim of the wise man, that 'yielding his beloved father, he resolves to open pacifieth great offences,' he waves all them again, and, to show his filial affecdispute, and meekly retires to 'the val- tion still more, he chooses to call them ley of Gerar,' either beyond the bor- by the same names by which his father ders of Abimelech's territory, or at had called them-names which probaleast farther off from his metropolis. bly carried with them some interesting 17. Pitched his tent. Heb. yihan. memorials of the divine favor towards This is a common term in reference to Abraham. Many of our enjoyments, military encampments, and denotes some- both civil and religious, are the sweeter what of a permanent residence, in op- for being the fruits of the labor of our position to frequent removals and migra- fathers; and if they have been corrupttions. The root Fm hanah, differs,ed by adversaries since their days, we But as 20 And the herdmen of Gerar saying, The water is ours: and he did strive with Isaac's herdmen, called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. z ch. 21. 25. to discourage the visits of such powerful persons to their territory; for other must restore them to their former purity.'-Fuller. 19. Isaac's servants digged in the val-wise the wells would have been sufferley; the re-opened well, it would seem, ed to remain on account of their utility not furnishing an adequate supply of to the nation. Stopping up the wells is water. He accordingly searches for a still an act of hostility in the East. Mr. richer vein, and succeeds in finding one. Roberts says that it is so in India, where The contention that arose, it appears, one person who hates another will had respect not to the old wells which sometimes send his slaves in the night to he re-opened, but to the new ones which | fill up the well of the latter, or else to polhe dug himself. The former were prob- lute it by throwing in the carcases of unably somewhere in the near neighbor-clean animals. However, of all people in hood of the latter, but of much inferior the world, none know so well as the Arabs value, from their scanty supply of wa- the value of water, and the importance ter.———¶ A well of springing water. Heb. of wells, and hence they never wanton- mayim hayim, living water. ly do them harm. They think it an act Waters that run or spring forth from of great merit in the sight of God to dig fountains are called, from their con- a well; and culpable in an equal degree tinued ebullition, living, in opposition to destroy one. The wells in the desto the stagnant waters contained in pools erts are in general the exclusive properand cisterns. Thus Lev. 14. 5, 6, the ty either of a whole tribe, or of individphrase running water is in the original uals whose ancestors dug them. The living water. Thus, too, Rev. 21. 6, 'I posesssion of a well is never alienated; will give to him that is athirst of the perhaps because the Arabs are firmly fountain of the water of life freely ;' i. e. persuaded that the owner of a well is of the fountain of living water; though sure to prosper in all his undertakings, this living water is no doubt at the same since the blessings of all who drink time a symbol of spiritual blessings as his water fall upon him. The stopping. refreshing to the soul as draughts of of Abraham's wells by the Philistines, fresh water to the thirsty traveller. the re-opening of them by Isaac, and As a large portion of the water made the restoration of their former names— use of in Oriental countries is rain col- the commemorative names given to lected in cisterns, we may see how nat-the new wells, and the strifes about ural it would be to attribute a peculiar value, and apply an expressive name, to springs or streams of running water. them between those who had sunk them and the people of the land-are all circumstances highly characteristic of those countries in which the want of rivers and brooks during summer renders the tribes dependent upon the well for the very existence of the flocks and herds which form their wealth. It would seem that the Philistines did not again stop the wells while Isaac was in their country. It is probable that the wells 20. The water is ours. The cause of these differences seems to have been, that a question arose whether wells dug by Abraham's and Isaac's people within the territories of Gerar belonged to the people who digged them, or those who enjoyed the territorial right. The real motive of the opposition of the people of Gerar, and their stopping up the wells successively sunk by Isaac did not furmade by Abraham, seems to have been jnish water sufficient for both his own 21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. 22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall a be fruitful in the land. 23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba. a ch. 17. 6. & 23.3. & 41. 52. Exod. 1. 7. Christ himself, though the Prince of 21. Sitnah. That is, hatred, spiteful herds and those of Gerar, and thus the question became one of exclusive right. Such questions often lead to bitter and bloody quarrels in the East; and it was ness. From the same root with Sitprobably to avoid the last result of an nah,' (viz. satan) is derived 'Satan' appeal to arms that Isaac withdrew out an adversary, or hater, a well-known apof the more settled country towards the pellation of the Evil Spirit. Desert, where he might enjoy the use of 22. Rehoboth. That is, room, enlargehis wells in peace. Whether the wells ment, free space; a plural term in the sunk or re-opened by Isaac were sub-original, and properly conveying the servient to the agricultural pursuits men- idea of amplitude with special emphasis. tioned in v. 12, does not appear; but, The two former names carried with having stated the importance of water them by implication a charge of wrongto the shepherds, we may subjoin its ful strife and hostility against the Phivalue to the agriculturist, as exemplified listines, who had thus defrauded him of in Persia. In that country, the govern- the fruit of his labor, while the latter ment duty on agricultural produce is was expressive of his gratitude to God. always regulated according to the ad- whose kind providence had at length vantages or disadvantages of the soil removed him beyond the region of these with respect to water. Those lands molestations and conflicts. The Psalm that depend solely on rain, are almost ist, in acknowledging, Ps. 4. 2, the dinever cultivated; those that are water-vine deliverance, makes use of a term ed from wells or reservoirs pay five per derived from the same root, 'Thou hast cent. on the produce: those that get a enlarged me (hirhabta li, thou supply of water from aqueducts pay fif- hast made room for me) when I was in teen per cent., and those that have the distress.' advantage of a flowing stream pay 23. He went up from thence to Beertwenty per cent. These rates are after sheba. With the reasons which led to deducting the seed, and allowing ten this removal we are not made acquainted per cent. for the reapers and threshers He would naturally feel attached to the (See Malcolm's ' History of Persia,' vol. place where Abraham had sojourned, ii. p. 473.)'-Pict. Bible.-- - Esek. where he had so often called his houseThat is, contention, strife, wrangling. hold together for the worship of JehoThe Gr. renders the clause, And they vah, and where every object would called the name of the well adiktav, ndi-serve to remind the son of the covenant kŋcav yap avтov, injury (or wrong), be- blessings pledged to the father. But, cause they injured (or wronged) him.' 'It whatever were his immediate induceis often the lot of even the most quiet ments, it was obviously a step preparaand peaceable, that, though they avoid tory, on the part of God, to a larger striving, they cannot avoid being striven measure of consolation than he had for with. In this sense Jeremiah was a some time afforded to his servant. Afman of contention,' Jer. 15. 10, and ter having been insulted and outraged |